A number of research findings point to positive motivational attribution about the donor brand as an essential element of cause‐related marketing (CRM) effectiveness. However, there still lacks sophisticated delineation to explicate the antecedents and consequences of positive motivational attribution. The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a strategic management model to address this issue.
The current study, integrating pertinent theories, develops the conceptual CRM strategic management model. A multi‐phase investigation, alongside statistical technique of structural equation modelling, is used to estimate the causal path relationships among the latent constructs as hypothesised in the model.
Positive motivational attribution about the donor brand refers to the target consumer's perception that the donor brand is motivated with more altruism than egotism. Only when the consumer's prior experience of the donor brand reaches an acceptable level, such perception becomes possible to emerge. Then, the consumer feels stronger moral pleasure for participating or stronger moral displeasure for not participating in the campaign. Eventually, moral pleasure and moral displeasure exert immediate impact on purchase intention.
The empirically validated CRM strategic management model contributes to brand‐marketing research and practice by providing more strategic clues for maximising CRM effectiveness.
